Filed under: Car Buying , Hybrid , Ford , Toyota In an apparent shot back at Ford’s increasing market share of electrified vehicles and claim that it accepts more Prius trade-ins for its own hybrids than any other car, Toyota has flexed a muscle and played the numbers game to put the Blue Oval in its place. Leaning on its hybrid market dominance in California, the Japanese automaker stated that six out of 10 hybrids sold in the Golden State are Toyota models. And it keeps coming: Year-to-date through May 2013, Toyota sold five times more hybrids than Ford . One of every two hybrids in California is a Prius model. In addition, Toyota notes that it has sold 1.5 million Prius vehicles in the US, 90-percent of which are still on the road today. Want more? We’ll let Bill Fay, Toyota’s group vice president and general manager of sales lay the smack down: “The hybrid industry has become competitive, but our wide range of hybrid vehicles continue to deliver high value and strong attributes to both new and loyal customers. With sales of 5.3 million hybrids globally and over two million in the US, we are the undisputed leader in hybrid vehicle technology and remain committed to building on our momentum and growing the acceptance of hybrid technology throughout the US.” And to think Toyota and Ford just ended their collaboration to make hybrid trucks together. On one hand, those are indeed very impressive statistics, but there’s a flip side, as well. If 6 out of 10 Toyota hybrid sales come from California, that’s more ammunition that hybrids still aren’t a factor for most American new car buyers .

Filed under: Truck , Toyota , First Drives Raising A White Flag To The Competition We all benefit from highly competitive battles. In the automotive sector, few campaigns are so closely fought as the decades-long struggle for supremacy in the fullsize half-ton pickup truck segment. The Ford F-150 has dominated for ages, but Chevrolet , Ram and GMC have been closing the gap with freshly redesigned trucks that are rocking the industry. Today’s half-ton trucks are better than they’ve ever been, and we have fierce competition to thank for that. But where does the segment leave a truck from an automaker that has chosen to no longer fight and deliver its best product? What kind of vehicle comes from a company that has relinquished any desire to strive for the top of the class – one who is now content offering nothing more than minor updates and mediocrity in an aim to placate brand loyalists? Such a calculated underachiever would look a lot like the 2014 Toyota Tundra . Continue reading 2014 Toyota Tundra 2014 Toyota Tundra originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: SUV , Toyota , Off-Road Toyota sold 121,055 Highlander CUVs in 2012, according to Automotive News . By comparison, it sold 78,457 examples of four different body-on-frame, truck-based SUVs ( 4Runner , FJ Cruiser , Sequoia and Land Cruiser ). One could argue then, that the traditional SUVs aren’t pulling their weight from a sales perspective. Yet that isn’t stopping Toyota from reaffirming its commitment to a segment that has seen its former champions – Ford , General Motors and Chrysler – abandon it with alarming speed. Ford and GM still offer body-on frame utilities, but only in the very largest offerings, catering to seven or even eight passengers. Everything outside of the Expedition or Tahoe rides now on a unibody. Toyota’s decision to stick with the technology is good news if you’re in the market for smaller SUVs that are still capable of heading well off the beaten path. Outside of the Jeep Wrangler , Grand Cherokee (a unibody) and perhaps Nissan Xterra , there’s not much in terms of capable SUVs between $20,000 and $50,000. As the Toyota brand’s US head, Bill Fay, says, “Clearly, the trend has shifted, but there is still an owner base that is interested in these vehicles.” We don’t doubt Fay on that, but it may also be somewhat telling that Toyota’s SUV lineup is aging, and we haven’t seen or heard much about replacement models in the pipeline. Admittedly, the 4Runner (pictured) has been facelifted for 2014, but it’s mostly cosmetic in nature.

Filed under: Classics , Coupe , Toyota It could just be a slow start to the news week around the Toyota offices, but its UK blog has posted a brief history on its legendary Supra sports car. Read into however you’d like, but there has been plenty of speculation as to the return of the Supra nameplate in recent years (including last month from incoming Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada). Built from April 1978 through July 2002, Toyota’s sports coupe made quite a name for itself as both the Celica Supra (shown above) and the Supra, and the blog post charts many of the changes and highlights through the years. Head on over to the Toyota UK blog to read more about this Supra’s history, and then be sure to check out the gallery of images from Toyota spanning all four generations. Toyota recounts past Supra glories originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

TORRANCE, Calif., July 29, 2013 – Toyota Financial Services (TFS) announced today that George Borst , the company’s U.S. leader of 16 years will be retiring effective September 30, 2013, after which he will assume the role of Executive Advisor until the end of calendar year 2014. Appointed to replace Borst is Mike Groff , currently Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Product Development at TFS.

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Toyota Indiana seems like the place to be if you’re looking for work in a car factory. In May, Subaru announced plans to invest $400 million in its Lafayette, Indiana plant, creating 900 new jobs in the process and increasing capacity to 300,000 units per year. Now, Toyota has announced plans to invest $30 million in its Princeton, Indiana plant, 170 miles south of the Subaru factory, which also builds the Camry . Toyota’s investment will create an additional 200 jobs and increase the factory’s volume by 15,000 units. Toyota announced an investment in the plant in February of 2012 that bumped volume up from 300,000 to 350,000 units. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, as the Princeton facility is officially known, produces the recently revised Toyota Highlander , the Sequoia and the Sienna . It employs 4,500 people, and this announcement represents Toyota’s tenth production increase in under two years. Scroll down below for the official announcement. Continue reading Toyota investing $30 million in Indiana for more Highlander production Toyota investing $30 million in Indiana for more Highlander production originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Jul 2013 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Toyota , Earnings/Financials General Motors and Ford can have all the success they please, but it doesn’t seem like America’s two largest manufacturers are going to topple Toyota in the first half of 2013. According to Reuters , Toyota moved 4.91 million vehicles in the first six months of 2013, representing a 1.1-percent drop from the same period in 2012. GM is on the rise, though, with a four-percent increase in global sales, to 4.85 million. Volkswagen , still sitting in third, saw a 5.5-percent jump to 4.7 million vehicles in the first half of 2013. If this pace continues for Toyota, it’ll finish 2013 in the top sales spot for the second year in a row. The manufacturer fell to third, behind GM and VW, in 2011 after earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged its production capacity. Toyota hangs on to title of world’s largest automaker for first half of 2013 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink